![\"A](\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2025\/10\/garage2.jpg\")
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A garage is supposed to be for cars. A workbench. A bike or two. Maybe a garage gym.<\/a> But most of us end up using it like the junk drawer for the entire house. Big stuff you don\u2019t know what to do with, or you think you might use \u201csomeday,\u201d slowly ends up there: unused materials for DIY projects, that cheap futon you used in college (maybe your five-year-old can use it when he\u2019s in college!), toys your now teenage daughter played with when she was four.<\/p>\n I think we hold on to stuff in our garage because we like to think of ourselves as frugal and resourceful and have that fantasy of being the dad who finally finds a use for the weird scrap of wood he\u2019s been holding onto for twenty years. Unfortunately, the fantasy rarely becomes reality. That weird scrap of wood is never going to be used and just takes up space.<\/p>\n Eventually, the stuff in your garage accumulates to the point where you have to do archeological digs just to find the items you actually need. I\u2019ve had that happen to me a few times in the 14 years I\u2019ve lived in my home. The most recent experience of garage clutter realization happened this past spring. I was trying to get ready for a backpacking trip, but had to move around Gus\u2019s little league bats from when he was seven (he\u2019s a high school freshman now who hasn\u2019t played baseball in almost a decade) and a box of short-circuited Christmas lights.<\/p>\n If your garage junk has gotten overwhelming, it\u2019s useful to know the stuff you can and should get rid of \u2014 guilt-free. Below we highlight items to discard to free up space and remove potential safety hazards.<\/p>\n As you go about your garage decluttering, keep this overarching guideline in mind: you may have heard the rule that if you haven\u2019t worn an item of clothing in your closet for over a year, you should get rid of it. A similar principle applies here, except since garage items tend towards more occasional use, make this the rule instead: if you haven\u2019t used something in five years, get rid of it. Some exceptions \u2014 things you should discard sooner or keep longer \u2014 apply, which I\u2019ll mention for certain items.<\/p>\n Every garage has a stack of old paint cans. You hold on to them thinking, \u201cWell, I might need to do a touch-up or maybe when I go to repaint, I\u2019ll need to be able to color match.\u201d Those are legitimate uses \u2014 as long as your paint isn\u2019t \u201cexpired.\u201d<\/p>\n Unopened latex paint can last up to about 10 years if stored properly, though oil-based paints usually don\u2019t hold up quite as long. Once a can\u2019s been opened, you\u2019ve got about two good years, maybe longer if it\u2019s been sealed well. If you haven\u2019t used those paint cans during those timeframes, get rid of them. They\u2019re useless and a fire hazard. If you want to know the paint color you used in your home for future paint jobs, write it down in your butler\u2019s book.<\/a><\/p>\n Old Miracle-Gro, weed killer, bug bombs. They get unstable with time and temperature swings. If the bag is sun-faded and crunchy, its contents won\u2019t benefit your lawn anymore. Chuck it.<\/p>\n Motor oil, antifreeze, and half-empty bottles of pool chemicals often sit for years on garage shelves, taking up space and creating fire or poisoning hazards. If you haven\u2019t touched them in years, you\u2019re not going to. Check your city\u2019s hazardous waste disposal program for a safe way to dispose of them.<\/p>\n Rags soaked in drying oils (like linseed oil) can heat up and spontaneously combust if they\u2019re piled together and exposed to airflow. And while rags soaked in motor oil are less combustible, they\u2019re still a safety hazard. And they\u2019re taking up space. Toss them.<\/p>\n If you were going to fix that drill, you would\u2019ve done it by now. The broken leaf blower? Same story. They\u2019re taking up space needlessly. You can get rid of them. Same goes for the duplicate tools you\u2019ve acquired over the years. Do you really need four hammers and three tape measures? Or two socket sets missing the same three sockets? The answer is no.<\/p>\n Unused 2\u00d74s, unused tile, bags of grout. Unless you\u2019re actively repairing the exact project they came from, they\u2019re just taking up space.<\/p>\n Coffee cans of screws and nails, cables to devices you no longer own, random brackets you can\u2019t identify. If you don\u2019t know what it goes to, you won\u2019t miss it. And if you need it again, you can just make a trip to Home Depot. Screws and other thingamabobbers are cheap.<\/p>\n The bike your kid hasn\u2019t ridden since Obama\u2019s second term. The youth baseball bats that have stood untouched, leaning in the corner for a decade. It\u2019s time to pass them along to a family with younger kids.<\/p>\n As a garage gym owner, I\u2019ve accumulated several pieces of equipment that served me at one time, but I haven\u2019t used in years. And all that stuff is just taking up precious real estate in your garage. If you haven\u2019t used that specialty bar or squat rack attachment in the last five years, you\u2019re probably not going to use them in the next five years. Sell them. And good news! You now have more space to put new gym equipment.<\/p>\n Our family has accumulated plenty of camping gear over the years. Some of it proved to be useful and necessary<\/a> and some of it not. Do an audit of your gear and keep the stuff you still use on the regular. Chuck the broken tents and the busted lanterns and find a happy home for that sleeping bag you ended up hating.<\/p>\n The inflatable Santa with a hole. The string of broken lights that you told yourself you\u2019d fix back in 2020, but are still in a knot sitting in a box. If you haven\u2019t put it out in years, you won\u2019t. Get rid of it.<\/p>\n Furniture is practically and psychologically hard to discard \u2014 it\u2019s big, it\u2019s expensive, and it\u2019s often attached to old memories. So the garage is where furniture goes when you know you should get rid of it, but can\u2019t quite bring yourself to do it. You tell yourself maybe the kids could use it when they\u2019re older. They likely won\u2019t; it will be out of style, or just not their style. And in the meantime, the temperature swings warp the wood, the cushions soak up smells, and all that furniture is just taking up a ton of space. Unless it\u2019s a true heirloom piece (and if it is, keep it inside), furniture in the garage is just bulky clutter. Sell or donate it if it\u2019s decent; have it hauled away if it\u2019s not<\/a>.<\/p>\n Think about how many \u201cjust in case\u201d machines end up in the garage. The beer fridge that barely chills, the microwave from 1995, or the tube TV from your Halo LAN party days in college. Are you really going to bring that 30-year-old microwave back into the kitchen? Of course not. Sell, recycle, or junk that stuff.<\/p>\n Garages were built for cars, so it\u2019s only natural that car parts accumulate there. If you\u2019ve got a stack of bald, cracked, or more than six-years-old tires sitting in your garage, get rid of them. They\u2019re not safe to use, and they take up space. Same goes for car parts left over from vehicles you don\u2019t even own anymore. Tire shops will recycle the rubber; scrap yards will take the old parts. Free up the space.<\/p>\n Stacks of old newspapers, bins of files you don\u2019t actually need, bags of dog food. Paper mildews; food attracts critters. The garage isn\u2019t an archive or a pantry.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve already noted what to do with many specific items above, but here\u2019s a general guide to help you clear things out efficiently:<\/p>\n For unused stuff that\u2019s in decent shape, sell it. Facebook Marketplace is your friend here. I\u2019ve sold lots of garage clutter there over the years, from old desks to gym equipment.<\/p>\n If you can\u2019t sell your in-good-condition stuff, give it away or donate it.<\/p>\n For everything that doesn\u2019t sell or donate easily \u2014 like broken tools and unusable furniture \u2014 calling a junk removal service can save you from making a dozen trips to the dump (if you even have a vehicle capable of getting stuff there). For about $150\u2013$200, they\u2019ll haul away as much junk as you can assemble. You can also check your city\u2019s bulk-pickup schedule.<\/p>\n For hazardous materials like paint, fertilizers, oil and gas products, and old electronics, look up your local hazardous waste disposal facility. Many communities host drop-off events for these materials, ensuring they\u2019re handled safely and responsibly.<\/p>\n When you finally clear out your garage of all the unnecessary crap, you\u2019ll feel like you\u2019ve got a new lease on life. Nothing is more satisfying than reclaiming usable space. And it also makes finding the stuff you actually use easier.<\/p>\n And once the junk\u2019s gone, you can start thinking about how to use the space well. We\u2019ve got guides on how to organize your garage<\/a> and the biggest key to keeping it that way<\/a> (hint: get your crap off the floor!). Put \u201cGarage Declutter\u201d on your home maintenance checklist<\/a> every spring, and it\u2019ll never again get to the point where you\u2019ll need to do an archaeological dig to find your workbench.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A garage is supposed to be for cars. A workbench. A bike or two. Maybe a garage gym. But most of us end up using it like the junk drawer for the entire house. Big stuff you don\u2019t know what to do with, or you think you might use \u201csomeday,\u201d slowly ends up there: unused […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":191149,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42277,42276],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-191146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homeownership","category-lifestyle"],"featured_image_urls":{"large":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2025\/10\/garage2-538x280.jpg","aom":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2025\/10\/garage2-372x230.jpg","reactor-320":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2025\/10\/garage2-320x214.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191146"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=191146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1. Old Paint<\/h3>\n
2. Old Fertilizer and Pesticides<\/h3>\n
3. Expired Chemicals and Fluids<\/h3>\n
4. Oily Rags<\/h3>\n
5. Broken and Duplicate Tools<\/h3>\n
6. Leftover Building Materials<\/h3>\n
7. Random Hardware<\/h3>\n
8. Outgrown Sports Gear<\/h3>\n
9. Old Gym Equipment<\/h3>\n
10. Old Camping Gear<\/h3>\n
11. Old Holiday Decor<\/h3>\n
12. Old Furniture<\/h3>\n
13. Spare Appliances and Electronics<\/h3>\n
14. Tires and Car Parts<\/h3>\n
15. Paper and Pantry Goods<\/h3>\n
What to Do With All the Junk<\/h2>\n
The Payoff<\/h2>\n